Fire ants and pets (how much, house, landscaping)

[furnitureprincess]

I keep reading about the fire ants. It seems they pop up quite randomly. Here's my question . . . Are they any more prevalent in certain areas? Are they any hazard to your pets? If we move out there our dogs would be outdoors a lot of the day and I worry about what might happen if they were to encounter or disturb a fire ant dwelling that just sprouted up. (Maybe there is no reason to worry) We would plan on having regular pest maintenance, but will they continue to persist in between? How do you treat a mound if you wake up to find they have taken residence in your yard? Anybody have any info?

[mrsengle]

We get quarterly maintenance, and although it really helps, they are persistent in our front yard near the curb. It's amazing how fast those little buggers can build a mound! We've used the fire ant killer from Lowe's (Ortho Max), and it works OK, but they don't stay away for long. We had a HUGE mound a couple of months ago where the driveway meets the sidewalk, and my husband finally doused it with some gasoline when the Ortho Max didn't get the job done - so far so good. We haven't had problems in the back yard though (thank goodness, because I'm sure our dogs would be in the middle of it).

I'm not sure how dogs react to getting into a mound, but even if they're okay, they may inadvertantly track them into the house. Here's a link I found that might answer your questions:

I think my dog has been stung by fire ants. Is there a remedy?

[Trainwreck20]

In our experience, our cats and dogs are much better at avoiding fire ants than people...probably 'cause they are right down there with em, don't know. Anyway, I have never had trouble with pets and fire ants, although I can't guarantee that they haven't been bitten once or twice before.

[love roses]

I'm with trainwrecked about the animals. My pets haven't had any problems. But fighting fireants is a constant battle. Be more cautious with small children. You can buy fire ant treatments almost anywhere. Ortho max is good, sometimes so is gasoline, if they are particularly persistent. I tried the boiling water on a small mound by the backdoor, and it worked, but not for as long as something stronger. Fire ants are everywhere in every town in Texas, so it's not easy to avoid them. There seems to be more action from them after a rain for some reason.

[achtungpv]

Fire ants can potentially be hazardous to pets. I grew up on a ranch in SoTx and it was pretty common for a newborn calf to be overcome by fire ants or be permanently blinded by them because the cow unfortunately gave birth on a fire ant mound. I could definitely see a young puppy running into a big mound and something bad happening..especially if they're as dumb as my dog.

[TX-Griff]

My three cats regularly go outside in my suburban/subdivision neighborhood and since my move here ('99) only one has had an an encounter w/ a fire ant mound... she's my "special" kitty and even she knew to get to Mom real fast... LOL! I was watering my garden at the time and managed to get one hand on her and the hose in the other hand... I didn't see any bites on her, just a lotta drowned ant bodies flowing off've her. Whew.

I was here mebbe two weeks when I stepped into a previously undisturbed part of my garden and my sandaled foot landed right on a mound... other than suffering the red/white itchy bites for a week or so, no adverse affect.

Since then, I treat m'lawn 3x a year via my landscaping guy and when a mound does pop up (mebbe 2-4 a year, typically right after a rainy period), I load it up w/ about 27 times the recommended dosage of the fire ant granules. You learn to keep a bag of it easily accessible in the garage for just such occasions.

The house next door to me was empty for 5-6 months whilst the absentee owners wrangled about who owned how much of it, etc. and I noticed their lawn was popping up a few mounds... I took m'bag of fire ant granules over and treated their lawn and w/in a week or so there were no mounds on their lawn, and thus no mounds to "migrate" to my lawn.

TX Griff

[furnitureprincess]

Thanks for the info, all of you . . . We will be visiting in one more week! I will make sure to keep my eyes out for the fire ants. I know it seems silly to worry about something like this, but I can't help but love my dogs and have heard horror stories of animals that "happen upon" fire ant mounds. I'll be sure to pack some Ortho Max when we move from LA so we have it ready and waiting when we move in. Thanks again!